


I Crossed My Heart

by CobaltStargazer



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Carol and Maria are married, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Love, Memory Loss, Monica Has Two Mommies, Returning Home, Separations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-24 12:01:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18571060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CobaltStargazer/pseuds/CobaltStargazer
Summary: Carol promised she'd come back, and she did.





	I Crossed My Heart

**Author's Note:**

> The song lyric is from Bruce Springsteen's _Cross My Heart_. I don't know why the soundtrack doesn't have any Springsteen in it.

Seven months, two weeks, and four days.

That was how long it took Carol to get Talos and his family, the other Skrull survivors, to safety and a new home. The galaxy was a vast place, far beyond Earth and Hala, and she served as both lookout and protector while gathering more refugees to take them to a haven where the Kree couldn't reach them. She did battle for the ones she'd sworn to help, her powers finally coming into full bloom.

She remembered. A little more every day, as if shedding the last of her identity that had been 'Vers' was allowing 'Carol' to emerge at last. Blooming right along with her abilities, a flower in the full flush of spring. The sound of a child's laughter, the first time she'd been in a plane, the way her uniform fit when she was finally accepted for flight training.

Maria.

Mostly Maria, who she'd left behind with a kiss and a vow to return one day. Especially when it was late and the ship was quiet, no one to distract her. No way to contact Earth either, the distance making communication impossible. Patience had never been Carol's best quality, but she was also stubborn enough to ride out the frustration of being forced to wait. 

Seven months, two weeks, and four days.

It was dark when she returned, as it had been dark when she left the last time. Not six years, but longer than she'd expected. And she remembered. All of it, or most of it. Beers on the porch and cookouts in the summer and pinball games. She'd considered making a grand entrance, wanted so badly to **announce** herself, but maybe it was better to come as she had been before she left, before everything went wrong and she lost herself. As if she was still simply Carol, who Maria knew.

She had one foot on the bottom step leading up to the house when the porch light came on. Carol shaded her eyes against the sudden glare, waited as the screen door creaked open. Had forgone the red and blue outfit for street clothes, jeans and a T shirt and cross-trainers. The baseball cap she'd gotten from Fury. Her favorite leather jacket. 

"Hi."

Maria hovered in the doorway, more out of the house than inside it, and it was almost exactly like the last time. Even without intending to, Carol always made an entrance. She took a half-step away from the threshold, then another, into the path of the yellow light.

"Are you here?"

"Yes."

She couldn't see Maria's face, her expression, but she took another step towards the porch she'd dreamed about while she was gone. She remembered a hand beneath her jacket, a mouth that was at once new and entirely familiar. _Come back to me this time. Come back to us._

"Are you home?"

Almost like she was asleep and dreaming, because this was something she'd lived through more than once. Carol at the door or in the kitchen or out behind the house helping her work on a plane, and then she'd wake up and it wouldn't be real. One more step, though.

"Yeah."

Carol took that final step up to the solid surface of the porch just as Maria let the screen door close behind her. Blonde hair caught the light where it wasn't covered by the hat, as their hands met, and then there was the kiss.

Seven months, two weeks, four days. A lifetime. An eyeblink.

_I grabbed you, baby, and you grabbed me back._

"I should have left the light on for you."

"Are you kidding? I could have found this place in the middle of a blackout."

Their faces were so close that even in silhouette Carol could see the other woman's eyes, and she took the hat off and tossed it in the direction of the porch swing. She'd rediscovered herself and also become someone new, gotten her life back by taking the parts of Vers that were actually useful and stitching them into her psyche. It hadn't _all_ been bad, those six years. But this? This was...

Everything, and maybe Vers had led her to it.

"Monica's gonna be mad she chose tonight to go to a sleepover."

Carol laughed, dropped her gaze to the porch. "Well, I'm home. She'll see enough of me after this."

_Home_

It struck them both, and they stood there in the glow of the porch light just holding on. Maria dropped a light kiss on the point of Carol's chin before kissing her mouth, just as softly.

"Just be here when I wake up, okay? We'll start there."

"Okay."

The screen door opened again, creaked quietly when it closed. Then the heavier inner door, locking behind them. It looked like a whole new chapter was just about to start. For all three of them.


End file.
